Morgan’s ferret Mocha peeking out of a bag

There is such a day… and over the past year I have looked back on that day so many times.  We all knew there was danger, Morgan, Steve and I, but obviously we did not really know the extent of the danger.  But that is the story you know from the Blog of Morgan’s Stalking.  There are many other stories of the past year ,and now I want to share this one with you.

Very surprisingly, and unexpectedly since the day that Morgan was murdered, I have met people who have been through similar situations, all with different outcomes; however with a very similar thread to all our experiences.

We all thought we were being abundantly cautious.  We had all taken protective measures that may seem extreme to others, but were obviously not extreme enough.  And we all had that one night where one breakdown followed another until, much to our total dismay, our defenses were down.  And we all sort of independently thought, on that particular night, what are the odds? Or even, just this once, I can relax for one night, and everything will be alright.  And we did – relax that one night – and no, it was not alright.  Far from alright, it all went wrong, so horribly wrong.  Not just for Steve and I, and Morgan, but for many others who have shared their experiences with me.

As the last two weeks of Morgan’s life have been pieced together with as close to microscopic precision as Steve and I, and so many others helping us have been able to achieve things have surfaced.  So many things came to light that we would have never known.  So many seemingly innocent incidents that added together for Morgan to even be home on the evening of December 1st.

The night before she had a pleasantly unexpected ex-boyfriend sleep over on our couch – he wanted to add his watchful eyes and ears to ours, and on the night before that, she “felt “the stalker’s” presence, and heard his noises”, until she could take it no longer and went to the home of a grandmother she baked with.  The next evening (the evening after she was murdered) she would most likely have been gone for the weekend babysitting for our proud military families at their retreat in Frisco, CO.  And the move of our family would have officially begun in all likelihood the next week after that.

And here was that one night, as Steve and I have fatefully learned, where so many things were stacked against Morgan.  We learned that Morgan had asked to sleep over at a friends aunt’s house that night but it didn’t work out so she came home.  Whereas Tessi (our dog) was closed up in the back of the house in our room, very unusual.  Where I took extra sleeping aids because the exhaustion of Morgan’s Stalking had become too much.  When Steve moved a key motion detector because the suddenly increased Deputy patrols with their equipment laden trucks were setting it off at all hours of the night.  When an inside monitor suddenly failed, and was left off for the night.  And at least a few more I just can’t remember right now.  And we all know the outcome, sorry Louise, Morgan did not take her life, and even if she had it would still be a crime caused by the stalker, and his accomplices, and those covering for him.  But far too much evidence exists to dismiss the presence of at least one other in Morgan’s room that night.  We now know with complete certainty the reality that no parent ever wants to believe…our daughter was murdered in her own room, while we were sound asleep on the other side of the house.

In my grief I heard similar stories, and they did not register until much later.  Something that has been with me very much so since Morgan’s death.  Stories of alarms that were malfunctioning, and off for just one night.  Of tarps, and scaffolding in place at the neighbor’s house that conveniently concealed the criminal.  Of car keys that were thought to be missing, but were not missing at all, instead in use by the criminal with a new perfect hiding spot.  Of dogs that were at the vets for overnight observation, after suddenly taking ill.  The list goes on and on.  And because of all these mishaps that took place, something horrific happened to others on that one particular night when everything seemed to have gone wrong.

MISTAKE – letting your guard down in a crisis situation.  Stalking is a crisis situation, invasion of privacy for sexual gratification is a crisis situation.  The only thing you really know is how long it has been since the last time your perpetrator terrorized you.  And you know very well that most likely there will be a next time, and while you accept that fact, you do not know when it will be.

While you should not have to ever live in fear, you must also be extra vigilant on those nights when it seems like things are randomly, suddenly all going wrong.  Human nature to accept that there is a simple explanation for it all.  I did, Steve did, and now I have met many others who did.  We might have all been worried, but convinced ourselves that everything was going to be just fine.

Which brings up an obvious point, when I look back on the combination of events that came together by coincidence for one night, and I say coincidence, because there are events that were beyond the control of Morgan’s tormentor.  How much of a coincidence is it that is the night he chose too?  Too much of a coincidence?  I think so.

I think that stalkers and sexual perverts either get quickly exposed, and caught because they are inept at remaining undetected.  Or they have mastered remaining undetected and are rarely, if ever, caught red-handed, or have eyewitness testimony, and things of that nature.  They are only caught through trace evidence, DNA matches, a fatal slip up they never realized they had made until it was too late for them.

This all leads to one explanation that most do not like to think of.  What if your tormentor is there far more often than you ever realized?  What if sometimes you are aware of his presence and other times you are not?  What if the time that all seems so quiet and calm is the most dangerous?

My goal is not to further frighten other victims, but to further raise awareness of managing the dangers.  Because to help save others is to help make their radar one degree more intense.  Maybe the world is just not as safe a place as it once was, and we are all adjusting to that.  But I also want you all to know, parents and children alike, that to be just a little more cautious is a good thing.  To trust your instincts, even when your mind tells you something else.  Morgan was definitely not alone statistic wise, and the last thing she would wish is for you to join her.  Be happy, enjoy life, but please, be safe.

Morgan loved having her hair curled as a child – we would call her little curly

Between January 6th to the 15th, Steve and I tried to get back into the full swing of work, it was very trying.

On January 13, 2012 the Post Independent Newspaper in Glenwood Springs had the following in the report by the Glenwood Springs Police (not the Garfield County Sheriffs) about their incidents and arrests and this is what the paper had received from the GWSPD about an arrest of Keenan Vanginkel, but we did not read the paper on this day, we were sent this article later.

Then on the 16th Detectives Glassmire and Alstatt came over to our house to tell us about another girl attending CRMS in Carbondale that had a stalker, they asked us if Morgan ever took a foreign language class at Colorado Mountain College.  The M.O. of this stalker was different from Morgan’s stalker, and later on we found out that the girl being stalked recognized the man, and told the Sheriff’s who he was – a deputy went to his house, confronted him and he confessed.  It was a proactive move they made and Steve and I applaud this kind of intervention very much.  This perp wasn’t anything like Morgan’s stalker, a different typology completely, but it sure would have been wonderful if that same outcome could have been Morgan’s.

Then for four days we left for a trip to attend an award celebration for our oldest daughter.  She was still so distraught over losing her baby sister, that she didn’t even want to go, even though she had been nominated for an award.  We urged her to go and all of us knew that Morgan would have really wanted her to go.  Morgan knew how hard her older sister worked first hand, since Morgan got to help her on two of her movies.

So Steve and I went to cheer her on, even though it was an extremely hard thing to do.  I couldn’t stay more than 2 days, so we left early – the crying could no longer be contained.  It was our first trip anywhere after Morgan’s death and it is slowly getting better for us – we were able to function in public for 2 days.

In a wonderful gesture, a dedication was made to Morgan in one of the movies Morgan had worked on, in honor of her memory, and her contributions.  In Hollywood they have their own problems with stalkers, and they are very sensitive to the problem.  Specialists who have consulted on Morgan’s case are also very involved with the task of protecting celebrities from the beasts that stalkers are.  It has been very interesting to learn how catching the stalker is just the beginning.  Following through to a successful and very impact-full prosecution is just as, if not more important for them.

Unfortunately there is not a unified system to prevent stalking.  It has far more of differing methods in just about every area of the country.  And stalkers are very adept at slipping into the cracks when left wide open, all too often victims are left on their own.  Thinking they have protection when in reality they do not.  I look forward to the day when victims are not left to the mercy of their stalkers, as much as they are now.  And it will come, Morgan is not the only one to has suffered the fate she did at the hands of her stalker, unfortunately for us as a country of civilized people Morgan is part of a very large statistic that needs far more attention than it has received up till now.